Bamba Beach | Spice up your summer
Summer time has reached its peak with blistering hot days and little relief in the almost too warm evenings, with the only respite from the intensity being the sea.
Rachel Zammit Cutajar
Bamba Beach offers a relief from the summer sweat in hot and spicy Mexican dishes washed down with frozen margaritas.
Perhaps their keenest clients we trundled off to check it out somewhere around mid-June, looking forward to a jalapeño-rich meal, only to find that it was a week too soon and they hadn't even opened yet. So after a myriad of excuses for not being able to make it - one that included a freak mid-summer wind storm that sent waves crashing up onto all Sliema beaches - we finally managed to head down there on possibly the hottest day of the summer.
Parking in Sliema can be trying at the best of times but on a summer evening its almost impossible. However for just €2 for the night you can park at the Tower supermarket carpark and simply walk down the hill to the beachclub just next door to the Fortizza at the Preluna Beach Club.
The short walk down to the beach club brings with it the laid back feeling of Mexico, with bright colours and smooth Mexican tunes creating a truly relaxed feel just a stone's throw from the sea.
Cocktails provide the ultimate refreshment and even more so if they are frozen. You can't have a Mexican meal without a margarita and Bamba make exceptional margaritas with top quality tequila. While every good margarita comes in a glass with a salted rim the ones at Bamba are even more special. Rather than simple salt the rims of the glasses are dusted with a mix of chilli and lime along with the salt adding flavour and bite the scrumptious lime-flavoured drink with a punch.
If margaritas aren't to your taste try mango mojitos or caipiroskas - all frozen and refreshing, or stick to Mexican beer with a dash of lime for that distinct taste of Mexico.
While enjoying drink after drink, don't forget to keep your stomach lined with some amazing Mexican snacks. The menu at Bamba is unprentious with few items that are made fresh every day. The sharing menu is fantastic if you're just after nibbles - crunchy nachos with cheese, jalapenos and chorizo - finally somewhere you can get indulgent nachos without the gooey processed cheese you seem to find at the only other place that makes them in Malta. Or try the deep fried jalapeno peppers stuffed with creamy cheese.
The main courses are a little more satisfying with huge Mexican flavours - wraps, fajitas, chilli con carne and skewers make for an indulgent, delectable meal.
Eating chillies in the heat has been proven to actually cool you down. It's no coincidence that chillies are prevalent in cuisines of hot countries - India, Malaysia, Thailand, Africa, the Caribbean and of course Mexico all use the hottest chillies to flavour their foods.
While a cold, refreshing drink may cool you down, the effect is short-lived as the body reacts to this sudden decrease in body temperature by raising it, leaving you hot and bothered. Spicy foods on the other hand increase body temperature and dilate blood vessels close to the skin allowing for a longer lasting reduction of heat. The best solution - refreshing frozen margaritas for instant relief and hot and spicy jalapeño peppers for a lasting effect.
Make Bamba Beach your choice of the weekend, or any afternoon during the week. Enjoy a swim followed by sunset cocktails and a firey meal to round off the night.
Bamba Beach is open daily after 7pm.
Address: Bamba Beach, Preluna Beach Club, Sliema (next door to the Fortizza)
Contact: 99457376
